In the hospital, clinic and office settings rooms can be used for a variety of purposes. One method staff members have used to provide quick communication regarding the status of a room is the use of room flags. Room flags can be used to quickly inform both staff members and patients of what is going on in each room. For example, a staff member may look at the room flag and determine immediately whether the room is occupied or unoccupied, whether the room needs cleaning, what procedures the room is equipped to handle, the status of the patient in the room, or a variety of other information. The room flags serve a quick and efficient way to transmit information through a hospital, clinical or office setting.
Although traditional flag systems are adequate for communicating information regarding a room, traditional flag systems have several drawbacks. Traditional flag systems have a base that attaches to a wall or other solid feature, and a vertical bar. The flags on these systems are designed to fit over the bar and are designed to turn about their attachment to the bar. This design limits the number of flags that may be used. Additionally, it is difficult to remove or exchange the flags. To remove a flag it is necessary to use tools to loosen the bar from the base and then remove the flags from the bar. Then tools again must be used to replace the bar after the flags have been removed or exchanged. This process is both time consuming and difficult.
In still other traditional flag systems, the flags may be permanently attached to the base unit. This design necessitates the complete replacement of the unit if flags need to be replaced or exchanged. This results in increased expense and the removal and installation of a new flag system is both difficult and time consuming, typically requiring maintenance staff to perform the task.
In addition, both traditional designs are limited to the number of flags that can be used. The units are purchased with a predefined number of flags that cannot be increased without the purchase of another unit. With traditional flag systems there is no easy solution for expansion with respect to the number of flags.
Consequently, there is a need for a flag system having a modular design that would allow easy replacement and removal of the flags without the need for tools and provides the ability to expand the unit for use with additional flags. No known references, taken alone or in combination, are seen as teaching or suggesting the presently claimed flag system.